


No Love Like Your Love

by WitchWithWifi



Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: And be way older before they start a relationship, F/M, Fluff, I love them but I am only one woman, Like so many years, Slow Burn, They need to date other people, This will not be regularly updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2020-10-29 18:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20800775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchWithWifi/pseuds/WitchWithWifi
Summary: Journeys on the Jupiter 2 throughout the years. The Robinsons explore the universe, and have the most unexpected adventures along the way.Maybe by the time they reach Alpha Centauri, Don will be able to admit that he's been in love with Judy the whole time.Title from "Nobody" by Hozier.





	1. Even Though it All Went Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited to be writing this one! It's shaping up to be one of the longest fics I've ever written, and the slowest burn as well. Buckle up, because this fic is going to span about ten years for them. I've outlined it so that each chapter is roughly a year, give or take a few months.  
I won't be posting regular updates, but hopefully having this up on Ao3 will give me some encouragement to finish this before Season 2 hits. And yes, we're keeping it on-brand with the Hozier titles.  
Enjoy!

Ever since The Incident- what they had taken to calling being sucked through a black hole, and launched into a star system Will claimed was called “Danger” (Danger? Seriously?)- Judy had spent most of her time in the control room. She curled up in one of the pilot seats, and stared, unseeing, out at the galaxy, with its two contrasting rings of, what, planets? Stars?. She watched as they grew closer to it every day. This room was half-window, and she still felt stuck. Claustrophobic. It was no use crying, but she could admit, at least to herself, that she was exhausted. And terrified. And exhausted from the constant terror. So, she’d come here, and stare out at the unfamiliar stars, while life went on in the rooms behind her.

Sometimes one of her family members would sit with her, and trade theories, or requests. At the latter, Judy would unfold herself from the seat, and walk numbly in the direction she was pointed. Her mom would stop her, and smooth a hand over her hair. The simple touch was enough to bring Judy back to herself, enough at least to give her mom an honest, if rueful, smile. Her dad kissed her temple, Penny would clutch her hand, or Will would talk to her about biological properties in the animals they found on the other planet. They were treating her like she was made of glass, and she couldn’t find it in herself to fight against it. She felt like she was going to have a very real breakdown, very soon.

Sometimes Don would sit with her. His arrival was almost always preceded by Debbie. His chicken would wander in, clucking merrily with every few steps. He’d saunter in behind her, none of his swagger lost, despite their predicament. He’d sit on the floor next to her chair, and crack jokes while he fed Debbie. Sometimes, he even managed to make her laugh.

This is where he found her, about a month into their predicament. The joined orange and blue rings nearly filled the window before her, fiery and intimidating in their nearness. Debbie clucked around the base of the chair, and Judy let her hand drift down to the chicken’s feathers, stroking her lightly. Debbie let out a sound of appreciation. Don sat down next to her, and she tilted her head to see him.

His stubble had grown out into what was very nearly a full beard. She wondered if they had razors on the ship. His hair, too, was growing out, the jet black strands curling above his forehead, and at the nape of his neck.

His cheeky smile, however, remained the same as he lifted his chin, meeting her gaze. She met it with a brief quirk of her lips. That was about the best she could muster most days, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“And what are you up to on this fine morning, Doctor Robinson?” He asked pleasantly.

“Oh, the usual. Waiting to see if we’re about to crash-land on another planet determined to kill us horribly in one way or another.” Her voice held the same levity as Don’s, but the sarcasm underneath it was clear. Don didn’t appear bothered. He was happy to talk, regardless of her mood. He was a good friend. They _ were _ friends, right?

Idly, her mind recalled the day they went to get the fuel. She found out he was getting paid in exchange for leading them to the fuel- something he should have done regardless, not just for a check for, in his words, a retirement on a dying planet. He’d asked if they could go back to being friends afterwards. She hadn’t given him an honest answer that day- any honest answer had been buried underneath her fear and anger. She’d wanted to ask if they really were friends. If he saw her as more than the precocious, eighteen year old doctor he’d first met. She certainly saw him more clearly now.

“Okay, come on.” Don stood up, startling her out of her thoughts.

“What?” He was standing now, reaching out a hand to her.

“You. Up. Now.” He curled his fingers in a “come here” gesture. “It’s not doing you any good to sit here, staring at that.” He jerked his thumb towards the vista behind them

“One of us has to.” She protested, weakly. They both knew the computer, jacked up as it was, would warn them of any incoming obstacle, be it a meteor, or an entire planet.

Don just raised his eyebrows at her. Judy sighed, slipped her hand into his, and let him pull her to her feet. “That’s more like it. Come on. You’re going to hang out with me instead.” And with that, he was striding out of the control room, not even turning around to check if she was behind him.

Judy cast a baleful look down at Debbie. “Your human sucks.”

Debbie clucked at her unsympathetically.

“You make a very good point. Fine, fine, I’m going.” And with a put-upon sigh, Judy chased after the mechanic, who had already disappeared down the hall.

Don had settled in the center room of the ship, though he was inexplicably sitting on the floor, with their battered deck of cards in his hand.

“Don, I’m really not in the mood for Go Fish.” She warned, even as she sat down across from him. He began to shuffle.

“We’re not playing Go Fish.” He said. “My _ abuela _ loved to play cards. Now, this is more fun when played with more people, but we can manage with two.” He began to deal out the cards. Three to each of them facing down. Three more facing up. Then three more in a pile. He rattled off the rules, but he lost her by the time he reached explaining the special cards. He examined the confusion on her face, and then smiled lightly. “How about we learn by playing?”

“_ Please _.”

With a chuckle, Don placed his first card on the ground, and they were off.

Judy, to her credit, picked it up pretty quickly. She was a Robinson, and Robinsons were notoriously competitive. Family board night had been a staple for the family, until a Sorry! Piece had ended up Will’s nose, and Penny and John refused to speak to each other for a week. 

Don won twice, but the third game, Judy had picked up on his tricks, and countered with her own. When she placed her last card on top of his, her hand was empty, while he still had half of the deck in his hand. She punched the air in victory and grinned. Don ceded graciously, and obliged to her high five. 

“I haven’t seen that in a while.” He commented, sitting back on his heels.

“Seen what?” She gathered up the cards. “One more round?” 

“An actual smile from Judy Robinson. They seem pretty rare. And yes, one more round.”

She looked up from the cards she was already shuffling to meet his eyes. To her surprise, he looked completely sincere in his comment. It was an unusual look on him, but she welcomed it. “Yeah, well. They’re for special occasions.”

“I’m honored to bear witness to one such occasion.” There was the cheeky smile she was waiting for, but there was an underlying affection to it.

Before she could begin to form a sensible response, Penny wandered in. Her eyes landed on the deck of cards in Judy’s hand. “Please tell me you’re not playing Go Fish.” She said, with no small amount of dread in her voice.

“We’re not playing Go Fish.” Judy laughed a little at her sister’s expression. “Don’s teaching me… hey, what is this game even called?”

“Palace.” He supplied. “Join in, it’s super easy.”

Penny surveyed the pair for a moment, considering. “Alright. Maybe one game. Just go easy on me, okay?”

An hour later, the entire Robinson family, plus one mechanic, were sitting in a circle on the floor, engaged in a very intense round. Penny and John were openly discussing how to sabotage Will, who currently only had two cards in his hand. Maureen was scolding them, while silently counting the cards available. Don could only watch on in fascination, almost not noticing when it was his turn. 

“Your family is terrifying.” He murmured in Judy’s ear.

She bit back a smile. “You started this.”

“I was trying to cheer you up,” He said, voice still low. No one could hear him over the cacophony of the rest of the others’ arguing. “Not wake sleeping beasts.”

“I’m so sorry for your suffering.” She teased back, a smile lighting up her face as Will stuck his tongue out at Penny, while Maureen leaned over to peek at John’s cards.

Don smiled too. “It was worth it.” He wasn’t looking at the others, though.

***

Don knew he was completely gone on Judy, thank you very much. However, he was also a decent human being, who had no intention of letting anyone know that he, Don West, a twenty-seven year old spaceship mechanic, had a childish crush on an eighteen year old doctor. Because that would be weird.

Plus, they were stuck in a Jupiter that had zero fuel, zero contacts, and zero hope of rescue, rocketing towards a star system with the incredibly comforting name of Danger. This wasn’t exactly a place where any sort of relationship- any healthy relationship, at least- could blossom.

He had a feeling they were friends, though. At the very least, she put up with him, and that was more than enough.

She had stopped secluding herself in the control room. She would still get despondent every now and then, staring off into space like she could see something he couldn’t. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how. He wasn’t the one who was a doctor. So instead, he would distract her. He’d send Debbie clucking her way, or drag her into the engine room to poke and prod at the glowing _ thing _ that seemed to be controlling their engines, or have her sit with him in the Chariot while he blasted classic rock.

But his distractions were getting few and far between. There simply wasn’t that much to do on a two story ship designed for short travel. And he was stuck with the entire Robinson family.

The other Robinsons seemed to be slowly accepting him into their circle of trust. He was faring better than Smith, at least, who still tried to get in Will’s head every other week, and was a general nuisance to everyone else on the ship. Penny teased him just as much as she teased her siblings. He and Will had played catch in the hallway, until they almost broke a monitor and Maureen had scolded the both of them. Don had almost protested; he was almost thirty, he didn’t think he deserved this talking-to- but then he saw Judy in the background, badly stifling a laugh behind her hand, and decided this minor humiliation was worth it.

John was a tough nut to crack, but something had changed between them when they had been stuck on that piece of wreckage. They weren’t braiding each other’s hair and gossiping every night, but he seemed to be tolerating Don’s presence more than before, and that was probably the most Don could hope for.

Everyone seemed determined to figure out a way to reassert control over their engines, so their days were mostly full of lists and tasks and taking of samples. If Maureen wasn’t in the pseudo-lab she’d set up in the cargo hold, she was bent over one of her whiteboards, taking complicated-looking notes, and glancing back and forth between those and her tablet, muttering quietly to herself. John and the kids took it upon themselves to remind her to eat, and sleep.

He watched one day, with a little sadness, as John laid a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder, murmuring something in her ear. Maureen looked up with a small smile, and straightened up, and followed him to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” Penny materialized next to him, seemingly out of nowhere. Don jumped a foot in the air and did his best not to clutch his heart as the little redhead giggled.

“Trying not to have a heart attack.” He grumbled, though there was little heat behind his words. “What business do you have, sneaking up on poor, unsuspecting mechanics like that?”

Penny tapped the 3D printer he’d been leaning on. “Mom wanted me to print a spare part for the filters.” She gave him an appraising look. “What are _ you _ doing moping around her lab?”

He pressed his lips together in a line. “I wasn’t moping.” Penny just stared at him, waiting. “I was coming down to get some more food, and your parents were being all… parent-y over there.” He waved his hand at the now-empty space. “I just. They really love each other. It’s gross. Whatever.”

Penny gave him a perplexed look. He figured she was ready to drop the topic as she turned to the printer, but then she spoke, quietly as she typed in the instructions. “It wasn’t always like that.” He turned to the younger girl, surprised by her words, but she kept her eyes trained on the screen. “I mean, it was. But then after the star hit, he chose to go back to active duty with the military. Mom and Judy saw it as him choosing to leave us. Will didn’t know what to think. He’s always been an optimist.” Penny shrugged. “But then we got into the Alpha Centauri program. Mom called him to, uh, well, to tell him we were leaving… without him,” She stumbled over the last part. “And then a week later, he showed up at training with us.” Penny finally finished her typing and looked up at Don. “It took a while. Like, a long time. But she forgave him eventually. They never stopped loving each other. Not really.”

Don nodded. This was more or less what John had told him when they were stuck, floating on that wreckage. There was no doubt that John loved his family, despite these hurdles. Something he had said, weeks back, came back to him. _ I love Penny because she gives me lip… but she tries harder than anyone gives her credit for. _ Don hadn’t given it much credence, then, but he noticed now. She had been nothing but sassy and snarky and cheerful ever since they got stuck. She was ferrying things for her parents, keeping Will entertained, and keeping everyone’s mood up. He certainly hadn’t given her credit for that, had only written it off as a character trait. But as he watched the redhead intently watch the 3-D printer spit out a curved piece of plastic, he realized she was as afraid of the rest of them.

In a move that surprised the both of them, he reached out and patted her shoulder. “He loves you guys a lot. It’s all he could talk about when we were stuck on that scrap of metal.” He didn’t say _ I wish my family was like yours _ . He didn’t say _ My dad isn’t like that _. This was for her, not him.

Penny smiled tightly. “Thanks, Don.” 

He nodded, and turned to grab the box he had originally come down for in the first place. He’d nearly left the room when Penny called behind him, “She doesn’t hate you, you know.”

Don stumbled as he twisted back. “Huh?”

Penny’s smile was real now. “The look Judy gives you, where she looks like she wants to kill you? That means she likes you. You’re one of us now.”

“Oh. Huh.” Don blinked, considering, and then walked out, lost in thought.

\----

According to her watch, it was midnight.

At least, in standard time on Earth. In the empty void of space, however, it was always night. Judy had wrapped a blanket around herself to keep from shivering. She wanted to go to the control room, despite knowing what she would find. Unrelenting, unforgiving stars, stretching out in infinite darkness. Oblivion.

Instead, she wandered the halls. The sound of her steps broke the eerie quiet. Even the engine hum was a dull murmur in her ears. Sleep was a priority of most, but a luxury for her. Her nightmares nearly matched her waking reality at this point. 

As she circled back around to the line of bedroom doors, she heard something else. It really should have been inaudible, if not for the absolute quiet that swallowed everything else around them. It was coming from the last door on the right, which had been left slightly ajar. It had been Smith’s room before Smith- June Harris, whatever- had revealed herself as a true psycho. Once they had been sucked into the black hole, Don, their reluctant and unexpected passenger, had claimed it for his own. 

He was singing, Judy realized, hovering outside of his door. He wasn’t half bad, really. His voice was gravelly, and he was singing in Spanish.

“_ Me enamora que me hables con tu boca/Me enamora que me eleves hasta el cielo/Me enamora que de mi sea tu alma soñadora _.” The words were slow, and soft, but Judy only understood a few words. 

She listened for a few more moments. It was oddly soothing, listening to him sing. Still, she felt creepy just hovering outside his door. She tapped a knuckle to his door, and he abruptly fell silent.

She peeked her head in the slightly open door. Don was in bed, but he propped himself up on his elbows when he saw her.

“Judy?” His voice was confused, but not unpleasant.

“Hi.” Judy bit her lip, a little embarrassed. It wasn’t like she was interrupting… anything. But still, this was a context in which she had never seen him before. 

“What’s up with the ghost ensemble?” Don’s cheeks twitched, as if he were trying not to smile, and Judy realized that she still was wrapped up in her white blanket.

Judy rolled her eyes. “If you hadn’t noticed, spaceships are a bit chilly.”

Don sat up all the way, then stood. “There’s actually a really good reason for that.” He slid the door open a bit more. “I assume you want to come in?” It was phrased as a question, as though he genuinely didn’t know if she did want to.

She did. There wasn’t much in the room- all of their quarters were rather small, though they were supposed to expand once the Jupiter landed. Which would likely be a long time from now. So, Judy made herself comfortable at the foot of his bed, keeping her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Don sat across from her, adjusting the covers as he did.

“I heard you singing.” Judy offered, and bit back a smile as Don’s head snapped up to look at her, and she half raised her hands in apology. “You were good. Though I don’t really understand Spanish.” She leaned against the wall, still looking at him. “What’s it called?”

Don was staring at her, his brow furrowed slightly. He cleared his throat. “Um, _Me Enamora_. It’s about falling in love.” He shrugged. “My mom liked the song, she played it a lot at home.”

Judy nodded, and smiled encouragingly. “You don’t… um, you don’t talk about your family a lot,” She tried gently. She didn’t want to pry, but she’d be lying if she wasn’t burning with curiosity about his past. He’d mention his abuela every now and then, but that was it. He preferred to boast about his skills as a mechanic, or the trouble he’d get into while training to be a mechanic. He got a little distant when he talked about Tam. But he’d never mentioned his parents to her. But they’d been stuck on this ship for three months. Surely they were good enough friends now…

“I don’t really like talking about them.” He said gruffly, his mouth pressing into a thin line. Judy was about to back off, and tell him it was fine, when he spoke again. “I told your dad about it, when we were stuck. My parents… they’re not like yours.”

Judy brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her legs. “How do you mean?” She asked softly.

“They just… they didn’t care about me. I was trouble when I was younger. Maybe I just wanted attention. I dunno. They split when I was younger. I lived with my mom, mostly. I don’t… I don’t think I ever heard her say ‘I love you’. Not to me, or anyone else.”

Judy’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything. Don smiled slightly, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was the kind of smile people made when they were trying to laugh off something seriously, truly sad. “Yeah, she was a tough love kind of person. It’s fine, it didn’t, like, scar me for life or anything. Or maybe it did. I dunno. Anyway,” He shook his head, as though he were clearing his thoughts. “And your dad was telling me about how much he loves you guys, just dropping the word like it didn’t mean anything. It didn’t cost him to talk about how much he loves you.” He had been crying, Judy remembered, when they had finally come in over the radio. She wondered if this was why. 

Another deep, calming breath. “Anyway. I was feeling homesick. Even with all the bad stuff that happened with me and my mom, this was always one of the good things. She used to sing it to me, and we’d spin around in the living room, singing and dancing until we fell on the floor, too dizzy to get up.” His eyes were distant, and he smiled despite himself. “For her birthday one year, I learned how to play it on guitar. Man, she was so happy. Taught myself a few others, but that was the special one for us.” Don blinked a few times, returning to reality. “But, I don’t have a guitar here.”

She hadn’t expected so much from him so easily. Judy let her lips twitch up into a smile, and Don mirrored it. It wasn’t happy, but rather, a bittersweet moment. She wondered if his mom was still alive, if she knew her son was lost in space. If she cared. She had the terrible feeling that Don was wondering the same thing.

“You play the guitar?” She asked, instead, aiming for a lighter subject.

The tension lessened in his shoulders, and his bittersweet smile relaxed into something easier. “Yeah. Turns out I’m not half bad. Before I left, I had taken some real lessons and was just getting good.” He flexed his fingers, inspecting them with casual curiosity. “I wonder if I’m still any good.”

“I bet you are,” The easy reassurance escaped her lips before she could stop it, and he stilled, quirking an eyebrow at her. “I mean. It’s like riding a bike, right?”

He pressed his lips together. “I have no idea.”

“Well, when we make it to Alpha Centauri, I’m getting you the best guitar in the known galaxy, and you can show me.” Her voice was so full of false confidence, she almost believed herself. That they would make it to Alpha Centauri, instead of likely starving to death on a dead spaceship.

Don smiled again, playing along. “I’ll hold you to that, doc.”

***

“Penny?”

Penny was in the center of the ship, sitting upside down on one of the couches. The fire-red strands of her hair were splayed across the floor, and her feet were propped up on the wall. Judy leaned down to meet her sister’s blue eyes. “What’re you doing?”

Her sister blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m _ bored _ , Jude. We’ve been stuck on this ship for _ months, _and I’ve officially run out of things to do.”

Judy sat next to her sister, properly at first, but within a few moments, gave into the impulse, and followed her sister’s example. Her head thudded dully on the floor. “Have you read all of your books?”

“All the ones that seem interesting.”

“Finally mastered poker?”

“And won a frightening number of cookies for my trouble.”

“Learned a new language?”

Penny’s eyebrows drew together. “I didn’t download Rosetta Stone, so, no.”

Judy made a face, thinking. “I think I have a new activity for us.”

“Don?”

“Don.” Judy confirmed.

Judy was about to get up and go find her friend, but Penny seemed to find it more prudent to open her mouth and holler “DON!” So loudly, Judy was surprised they couldn’t hear her from Alpha Centauri. Judy let out a squeak of surprise and tumbled onto the floor. Penny was unrepentant.

There was a crash, and then a few moments later, Don crawled up the ladder, pressing a hand to his head. “You rang?” He asked, voice tight with pain.

Judy had been only half-kidding, but Penny had a new fire in her eyes, and asked Don her question.

“Yeah, that might… actually be fun.” Don said, a slow smile spreading across his face. He turned to Judy. “You in?”

Judy looked from him to Penny from her position on the floor. One of their faces held no room for argument. “I guess.” Maybe it would be fun.

It was not fun. In the end, everyone on board was joining Don’s informal, directionless Spanish class. Maureen donated her precious white board to him for these classes. He taught them various verbs and nouns that he deemed pertinent at the time, and then doubled back on himself to explain the conjugation of those verbs. There were pop quizzes, homework assignments, and tests. Even Smith was given electronic worksheets (on a heavily encrypted tablet). Maureen excelled, of course, and Penny’s brain was like a sponge. Anything that had to do with words was her strength, regardless of the language, apparently.

Judy did okay, but Don had taken to dropping Spanish into their casual conversations, as if she needed the reminder that Spanish was not her strength. 

“_¿Qué quieres para almorzar?_” He asked casually, as they played paper football one afternoon.

Judy flicked the piece of paper at his nose, smiling when it hit her target. “You’re worse than the Duolingo owl, you know.”

“The what?” Don rubbed his nose. “You really have to stop hitting me where it counts. This is the moneymaker, Doc.”

"What money? We're in space."

Don made a face at her, and she made a face right back at him. Like the adults they definitely were.

“You’re just jealous because you don’t know what Penny and I gossip about now.”

Judy snorted. “I still understand the word Debbie. You “gossip” about that chicken more often than not.”

Don smiled at the mention of his chicken, who was currently sleeping on the couch beside them. They were sitting on the floor, the table not shaped properly for their purposes. “She is an excellent source of entertainment.” It was a quiet day, for once. There wasn’t much to do, and for that, Judy was glad. Despite the monotony of their day-to-day life, it was better to be stuck on a working spaceship than a breaking spaceship. For now, the filters were clean, their computers were working, and their engine was… well, not doing anything. It was the best they could ask for.

Debbie ruffled her feathers in her sleep, and Judy allowed herself smile. Then a triangle of paper hit her in the temple, and she whipped her head around to look at Don, who shrugged. “You started it.”

“Are you five?”

“Age is a relative concept”

“I’ll make you a relative concept.”

“Are those fighting words, Doc?” Don teased, but stiffened when he saw the challenging look in her eyes. He scooted back “Those are fighting words.”

“Are you scared, princess?” She tucked her feet underneath her.

"That's badass princess to you."

"I'd run, if I were you."

He did.

Judy, of course, chased after him, and of course caught him. Their (admittedly childish) fight was over quickly, and Judy rode piggyback on Don’s back, as he walked through the spaceship, declaring loudly that Judy Robinson is the greatest paper football player, Spanish student, and doctor in the known galaxy. 

Laughter sounded from various parts of the ship, informing them that everyone had heard Don’s declaration. 

Judy demanded another victory lap around the main floor, and Don allowed it, complaining the whole time. They passed the control room, and Judy let out an audible gasp. “Don, Don look-”

But Don had seen it too. They gaped, staring out the window as orange filled their vision. They were at last plunging into the colorful, terrifying circles of the system Will had named Danger.

Then they saw it.

“Guys! Get up here, now!”

“Robinsons!”

They heard a muffled cry of “What’s going on?” From the direction of Smith’s cell, but neither of them bothered to go to her. Judy hopped off of Don’s back and ran to the walkie above their computers. “Everyone, get your suits on, _ now _, and get to the control room.”

There was a commotion coming from the others, yells of “What do you mean?” and “What’s happening?”

Judy just exchanged a wide-eyed, terrified look with Don. They had no idea what to answer. They only knew this. It wasn’t good.


	2. If I Should Lose You Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been... exactly a month since I posted this story. Wow. Like I said, I won't be able to post regular updates for a good minute. I'm writing research papers like nobody's business and it's a LOT. On the bright side, this chapter is a cool 6,000 words long. Enjoy!

Alarms blared. Noise was coming from seemingly everywhere as Judy stumbled into the command room. John and Don had already strapped themselves into the seats. Maureen was gripping the back of John’s chair, reading out the various statistics flashing across the screens while the others cursed at the engines.

The ship shuddered, and Judy tripped. She stumbled into the back of Don’s chair, and managed to grab it before she could tumble down the slanted aisle. She pulled herself up. 

“Judy?” Don turned around as far as the seatbelt would let him, which was really no more than a few inches. “What are you doing here?”

“Judy!” Her mom turned, too. “I told you to get to the center of the ship with your siblings.”

“They’re fine, I need to look out for you.” Judy argued. “If your leg gives out, or if our pilots fall asleep, I need to be here.”

Maureen opened her mouth to argue, but there was another terrifying jolt that nearly knocked them both off of their feet. Judy’s chest protector slammed into the hard back of Don’s chair and she gasped for breath. 

Maureen’s voice now crackled through Judy’s comm unit, as she told everyone, “Oxygen, on. Now.”

With fumbling fingers, Judy managed to turn on her oxygen, and breathed deeply as cool air began to flow.

“Robinson crew, sound off.” Her dad said, in full commander mode.

“Judy accounted for.”

“Penny accounted for.”

“Maureen accounted for.”

“Will accounted for.”

There was a pause. “Don?” Judy asked, peering over his shoulder.

“Do I count as a Robinson, now?”

“Don accounted for.” Judy announced with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m alive too, in case anyone cares.” Smith’s voice came through.

Don muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “We don’t,” but John didn’t reprimand him.

Things suddenly went terrifyingly quiet. Then, the window in front of them filled up with flames. Over the comm, Penny and Will screamed. Judy wanted to, but it felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs. Numbly, she reached her right hand down to Don, who was already raising his own hand to hers. Their fingers tangled, and she gripped him tightly. She couldn’t feel the head of his skin through four layers of fabric, but the pressure of his hand was enough to stabilize her, and ground her to reality.

The vista was beautiful, but in a tragic, we’re-going-to-die kind of way. It was the last thing they would ever get to see. “Judy-” Don’s voice cracked and-

And the fire vanished, and their view turned blue. Judy’s stomach swooped, and she realized they were still falling, but had made it through the atmosphere of the rock they were about to die on.

There were several loud clanks from somewhere below them, and then a yell from someone- whoever wasn’t in the control room. A loud whoosh of what sounded like… engines? But that wasn’t possible. The glowy, alien thing had been clinging to their engines for  _ months _ , disabling it, and no one was willing to go near it yet. And still. The screens flickered and the controls before them lit up.

“Is that?”

“Woah.”

“Pull up!” Judy yelled, and in a rare form, Don and John moved in tandem, punching buttons and flipping switches until slowly, unbelievably, the Jupiter pulled out of its death-defying nosedive. 

They leveled out, and Judy sagged against the chair in relief. “What happened?” She managed, sliding to the floor. She stared out the window, taking in their now-stable flight path over a thick blanket of ominous-looking violet clouds.

“You can thank your favorite child for that” Penny’s voice came over the com, sounding far too chipper from someone who had, moments ago, almost plummeted to her death.

“Penny?” Maureen was sitting as well, and had her leg stretched out in front of her. Judy scrambled over, worried she had hurt it, but Maureen smiled, and shook her head lightly. She was fine. Still, Judy unstrapped the brace and gently probed at the muscle, just to make sure.

Penny appears at the top of the ramp in the control room, proudly holding something that looked like a limp, black noodle. “I honestly can’t believe we hadn’t thought of just cutting up the creepy alien technology before.”

“You cut it up?!” Judy demanded, half horrified, half impressed. The thing that had taken control of their ship. The thing that had pulled them into a black hole. The thing that had dragged them into Danger.

“Penny! You could have been killed!” Maureen chastised, struggling to her feet, the brace re-secured. John and Don fumbled with the locks on their seatbelts. 

Penny rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry for saving us all from a horrible death. Don’t all thank me at once.”

John was up, and at her side in an instant. “We’re just concerned for your safety, honey.” He patted her helmet. “That being said, thank you for saving our lives.”

“You’re welcome.”

Maureen moved to stand on Penny’s side, and reached down to take the black noodle, some sort of vine that used to glow a haunting blue in their engine room. “You just cut it off?”

Penny nodded. “A lot of them, actually. All the ones that went to the main engine.”

Maureen froze, mouth hanging open. “You cut off… All of them?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, I’ve actually got a question about that, little Robinson.” Don had finally struggled out of his seatbelt, and made his way up the ramp. Judy followed him closely, snapped out of her shock. “I, like everyone, am thrilled we’re not dead right now. But our engine was out of fuel.”

Penny shrugged. “I’m the hero, not the scientist.” She turned to peer over her shoulder. “Will’s still down there, I think.”

“You left Will alone?” Maureen didn’t wait for an answer, and ran out, presumably to the engine room.

John squeezed her shoulder, and looked at the remaining three in the room. “I’m glad you’re alright. I’m going to check on Smith.”

Penny sat at the top of the ramp, and let the alien tech roll out of her hand. “Well. Glad that’s over.” Judy moved to sit next to her, and picked it up.

It felt soft, like organic tissue, but even without a microscope, Judy knew it was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. “Did it do anything when you cut it up?” Judy asked, still turning the thing over in her hands.

Penny shook her head. “Not really. I sliced the thing apart, and all of the tentacles or whatever just went slack, like string. I couldn’t open the engine itself, which is what Will’s been trying to do.”

At the mention of the engine, Don perked up. “It it’s an engine you need, you need an engineer.”

“You’re a mechanic.” Judy reminded him.

“A dashingly handsome mechanic who just happened to put together most Jupiter engines. So that sounds like my kind of jam.”

Judy held up her hands in surrender, one still clutching the alien. She passed it back to her sister, who dropped it on the floor, apparently no longer interested in it. Judy stood up and followed Don to the doorway. “You’re okay? No injuries?” Her voice was serious, now. “Those seatbelts can cause pretty bad bruising.”

“I’m fine Doc. I can live with a little bruising.” His voice was genuine too. “I just have to check on my chicken, and then I’ll see how the engine’s working.” He tilted his head, inspecting her. “Are  _ you _ okay? You were the one standing up for the whole thing.”

She managed a small smile. “I’m not dead yet, so that’s pretty cool.”

His face mirrored hers, and he reached out to give she shoulder a squeeze. His hand lingered, his expression fluttered… and then it dropped. He turned and went to find Debbie, whose box he had strapped into a seat in the galley.

Judy turned around to sit next to her sister. “What was  _ that _ ?” Penny asked, her voice dripping with implication.

Judy made a face. “What was what?”

Penny reached up with her hand and placed it in the same spot Don’s had been, seconds earlier. “Are  _ you _ okay?” She asked in a bad impression of Don’s voice.

Judy shoved her sister’s hand away. “That was him making sure I was alive.”

Penny made a considering noise.

“Got something to share with the class?”

Penny pursed her lips playfully and shook her head. “Not yet.”

Judy rolled her eyes, and stood up again. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re welcome for saving our lives!”

***

As it turned out, the dead alien matter worked alright as rocket fuel. “It burns, and that’s enough for the basic thrusters.” She explained at the table, once they’d convened for a debrief. “Our only option is to land, though. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, and I’d rather not figure that out the hard way.”

The rest of the group agreed. If there was something even Maureen didn’t know, they sure as hell weren’t going to be able to figure it out. 

“If we just go beneath the clouds, we could map out a place to land.” She fiddled with her whiteboard, though she wasn’t drawing anything. “We probably won’t be so lucky when it comes to oxygen on this planet. We can test the atmosphere to be sure, but,” She shrugged. “Expect the unexpected, okay.”

Everyone gave their affirmations, and then strapped in (properly, this time) in the galley, and Judy felt her world tip as the ship began its descent. 

John and Don let out shouts of… awe? Amazement? Judy couldn’t tell over the comm system, but it was clear that whatever they were seeing, it wasn’t what they expected. The bit of sky Judy could see was bright blue- too vivid to be confused with what she used to see on Earth. 

Their descent was rocky, but controlled. John explained over the com that they’d turned off auto-landing to avoid any mishaps like the last planet. Everyone on board agreed it was probably a good idea.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the ship thudded down, and John’s voice gave them the all clear, and Judy hurried to unbuckle herself. “But come to the control room,” Don’s voice said over the comm. “You’re gonna want to see this.”

Judy froze at the top of the ramp, but Will nearly bowled her over in his rush to get to the window. “Holy shit.” He breathed. For once, no one corrected his language.

Penny looked at Judy, her eyes filled with the same apprehension Judy knew she was feeling. If their eyes weren’t mistaken, this would be a very dangerous planet indeed.

***

“Go, go, go!” John’s voice crackled over the speakers in her ears, as if she needed the prompt. The blasts of the guns behind her were warning enough.

Will was in the front of the pack, clinging to Robot’s back, and instructing it to shoot at any enemies in their way. Enemies that Robot had probably once known. But Will’s friend and protector didn’t hesitate, simply shooting beams out of his metal hands, knocking down anyone who stood between them and safety. Judy didn’t have the benefit of a seven-foot tall bodyguard, though.

Ever since they’d found themselves in Danger, every planet had seemed set out to kill them. But Will was determined to find his Robot. He’d recognized the signs on the first planet they’d landed on, and urged his family to let him try to find his friend. Well. Here he was. With  _ his _ family, who were a whole lot pleasant than him.

Bullets and blasts of heat and shots of energy all ricocheted off of the metal forest surrounding them. Penny and John were waiting on the Jupiter, ready to take off once all of them were on board. Judy kept her head down, and pushed her aching legs a little harder. She could hear the monsters getting closer, the metal clinking of their many legs frighteningly loud. 

Don was only a few feet ahead of her, and he kept turning back to make sure she was still with them. Judy could run a marathon, but even she couldn’t sprint for this long.

Will and Robot made it to the ramp, followed closely by Maureen. Will wheeled around at the door, and said something to the robot Judy couldn’t make out. She understood a moment later, though, when Robot lifted his hand, and sent a blast of energy over her head to the metal enemy that had been gaining on her. Will cheered, and if Judy wasn’t running for her life, she would have smiled.

The Jupiter grew closer. Judy ducked under a felled metal branch, and Don reached out a hand to help her up. They were so close. A few more feet…

“Judy!”

Searing pain shot through her side, and Judy cried out, stumbling. If Don hadn’t been holding her hand, she would have collapsed, but instead, she nearly fell to her knees. 

Her body was already pulsing with adrenaline, and she didn’t have the presence of mind to do anything more than stare down at the thin sheet of metal that stuck out of her side. She was frozen.

Don was not. Without hesitation, he threw her over his shoulder, fireman style, and began running again, slower this time. Judy looked up in time to see what she assumed was her assailant get blown to smithereens by Will’s Robot.

Her side began to pulse. Her hand was wet where she was trying to put pressure on the wound. The world was getting a little fuzzy around the edges.

Then, the scenery changed. The night-dark metal forest gave way to brighter metal. The air didn’t taste like sulfur. She let her head droop, but cried out in pain as Don shifted his hold on her, so he was holding her to his chest, instead of draped over his shoulder.

Her mom was talking, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. Someone took off her helmet, and Judy sucked in the recycled, clean air of the Jupiter. Her mind cleared slightly, though at least ninety percent of her brain was dedicated to letting her know that she had a very painful wound in her side. “Med bay.” She gasped, looking around wildly, but everything was fuzzy. “Don’t- Don’t take it out.” Her cheek thudded against Don’s arm, and she blinked, trying to focus on his face. His eyes were wide, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at her side, and then his head snapped up. Someone was talking. It sounded like Maureen was saying something to him. Then he began moving again. Judy’s head lolled.

“Your arms are shaking.” She mumbled. Don looked down at her, and she passed out.

***

Don deposited an unconscious Judy onto the medbay’s table, eyes trained on the piece of metal protruding from her side. Maureen was only steps behind him, stripping out of her suit, before starting on Judy’s.

“Will!” she called, and the boy and Robot appeared in the doorway. “Tell your father and Penny to take off.”

“But-”

“Now! I don’t want to find out too late that those robot lasers can destroy the hull of our ship, too. When you’re done, come back in here. If your Robot can help in any way,” Maureen bit her lip, looking at her unconscious daughter’s face. “I need it. Go.”

Will and the Robot rushed off, and Maureen turned back to Judy.

Don’s arms  _ were _ shaking, he realized. Arms, legs, everything. The adrenaline had drained out of him, and he was instead gripped with mind-numbing fear, as he watched blood ooze from the wound in his best friend’s side. The shred of metal was flat, hardly thicker than a sheet of paper, but it was long, and wide. He didn’t want to think of what organs it could be touching.

“Don’t move it.” Maureen ordered. She was out of her suit entirely, and was pulling on plastic gloves. “We need to get her out of her suit as carefully as possible. I don’t want to cut through all of these layers with scissors.” Maureen eyed the sheet of metal warily, wondering how  _ it _ managed to cut through her daughter’s suit. “Hopefully it won’t be as deep as it looks.” Don looked at her and realized it wasn’t a cold-minded strategist speaking then, but rather a mother, hoping her child wasn’t about to bleed out before her eyes.

“Okay.” He agreed. He looked back down at the girl on the table. “She’s… what do we…” He fumbled over his words, unable to take his eyes off of Judy’s expressionless face.

“Roll her on her side. Get her out of the suit, I’m going to get the blood bags. I have a feeling we’ll need a lot of it.”

Usually Don felt queasy when he saw blood, but the only thing he could think about was Judy. He pulled off her chest protector first, and then gently set her on her back to undo the rest of the suit.

He managed to get it unzipped, but ran into a problem, trying to get it off without disturbing the metal. 

Maureen frowned when she got back, apparently seeing the same issue he did. “Oh, fuck it.” She whispered, and whipped out her knife. Don blanched, but quickly understood when she cut a wider slit into Judy’s suit, widening it just enough to slide the suit cleanly over the metal.

The white shirt she’d been wearing underneath the suit was stained dark red with blood, and there was clearly still more oozing from her side.

Maureen started setting up the blood and the IV, calling instructions to both him and the computer, but they sounded muted. Don looked at Judy’s face again. It was so still, and so pale in this light. Without thinking, he reached out, and ran a hand over her hair, which had been pulled back into a tight bun. The girl who’d saved him in more ways than one. Who’d taught him that there was more to life than just living. She didn’t so much as twitch.

“Don!” Maureen’s voice snapped him back to reality. His head whipped towards her, an apology on the tip of his tongue. He was taken aback when he saw Maureen wearing an expression that was almost… rueful, and he knew he’d been caught. “We’re going to save her.”

Don nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Whatever it takes.” He said, voice hard.

Maureen blinked, and nodded. “Whatever it takes.”

  
  


_ Ow _ . That was all Judy could think when she finally woke up. There was some major pain radiating from her side. And her feet were so cold. Her toes twitched a bit, and she wiggled them. Cool. She still had feet.

It took a minute, but she eventually found her eyelids, and tongue. She didn’t quite have the energy to operate either, though. Not yet.

There was a steady beeping coming from… somewhere. She realized there was a hand holding hers. Actually, there were hands in both of her hands, at both sides of her. Judy’s fingers twitched. 

Her eyes fluttered open. The world was blurry at first. She was in a bed, she could tell that much. It was far too bright in here to be her bedroom on the Jupiter. It looked like the med bay. But why would she be-  _ oh _ . Suddenly, it came rushing back to her. The Robot planet. The running. The pain.

Her vision began to clear. She looked to the left, and saw a redhead slumped on a chair, fast asleep.  _ Penny _ . For once, her sister’s hair wasn’t in neat braids, but rather, a messy, wavy mane, with fire-red strands stuck to her face. One of her hands was pillowing her cheek, and the other was wrapped loosely around Judy’s. There was an IV taped to the back of Judy’s hand.

To her right, was a far more surprising vision. Another visitor, sound asleep. Don’s head was resting on her mattress, near her knee. Even asleep, he looked stressed. There were lines in his forehead, and his skin looked paler than it should have. 

Yet, his fingers were laced tightly with hers. It couldn’t have been a comfortable position for him, but he didn’t move, on account of being asleep.

Judy’s attention wandered towards herself- specifically the dull throbbing she was feeling in her right side. Carefully, she extracted her hand from Penny’s loose grip, and- careful not to tug the IV-, gingerly felt her side.

“Ow, _ shit, ow, fu _ -” To say it hurt was an understatement.

Penny and Don stirred simultaneously, but then jumped awake when the realized Judy was up.

“Hey! You’re up.” Penny breathed, leaning foreward.

“I am indeed.” Judy croaked.

“How are you feeling?” Don asked, smoothly extracting his fingers from hers. Judy flexed the fingers of her right hand, feeling the loss of contact.

“Like I took a sheet of metal to my side.” Judy griped, wincing.

“Do you need more pain meds? I can get Mom. I’m gonna get Mom. Just don’t fall asleep.” Penny said all of this in one breath, and then pressed a hand to her sister’s before darting out of the room.

“Why can’t I go to sleep?” Judy asked, lazily rolling her head to face Don. His face was alarmingly full of worry for someone who was usually so calm.

“This is the first time you’ve been awake for longer than a few seconds.” Don said gently, reaching up to smooth her hair back, casual, like it was habit. If Judy hadn’t been more focused on her injury, she might have bothered to ask what the hell he was doing. However, she was in pain, and his hand in her hair felt nice.

“Wha… How long have I been asleep?” She asked, licking her dry lips.

“Ah…” Don looked like he didn’t want to say. 

Then, she heard multiple footsteps coming from the hall, and Don leaned back slightly to greet whoever was walking in. 

Maureen appeared in her field of vision a moment later, looking incredibly relieved. She didn’t say anything, just leaned down and pressed a firm kiss to her daughter’s forehead.

“You had us really worried there, Judy.” Her father’s voice said, and she looked up to see him smiling down at her, too.

Judy managed to summon a friendly grimace for her family. “Didn’t want things to get too dull around here.” She tried at joking in her raspy voice, and then coughed, which turned into an unintended whimper of pain when the action forced her to move her side.

“Do you need painkillers? I have the strong stuff.” A cup of water and a pair of large pills seemingly materialized in her mother’s hands. “I didn’t want to drug you up too heavily until you woke up.”

Judy nodded her thanks, and gingerly took the water, and swallowed the pills quickly. The cup was quickly whisked out of her hands by Don, who set it on the table at her side.

“Do you remember what happened?” Her mom asked, sitting at the edge of her bed.

Judy nodded. “There was an explosion? And some metal thing hit me in the side. Obviously.”

Maureen’s lips twitched in a semblance of a smile. John settled himself in the chair Penny had vacated, and took over Don’s job of stroking her hair. She leaned into her dad’s touch. 

“Then it all gets kind of fuzzy.” She admitted, frowning. “I remember being carried...?”

Penny piped up from the foot of the bed. “Don decided that was the moment an action hero. Seriously, he didn’t even slow down, just picked you up fireman style, and kept on going.”

Judy gaped at her friend, who was very focused on checking her heart monitor. He mumbled something that sounded like “Just adrenaline.”

“Yeah, no.” Penny refuted. “He didn’t put you down until he got you in here.”

Don shot a look at Penny. Judy reached out, until her fingers grazed his hand. His hand twitched under her touch, and she twisted their fingers, pulling until he was looking at her.

“Thank you,” she said, painfully aware that her whole family was watching. “Thanks for saving me.”

The corner of Don’s lips twitched, and his brown eyes seemed to bore into hers. “Any time.” He winked at her. “Just don’t make a habit of almost dying, and we’ll be good.”

“Right back at you.” She said, remembering how she felt when she watched the ship blow up in a different sky, almost two years before. 

He really smiled at her, now. It was a soft, affectionate thing that felt far too intimate for such a public setting. Or maybe that was the pain pills kicking in.

“How long have I been out?” Judy asked, furrowing her brow.

“Not long…” John hedged.

“About two days.” Her mother supplied. 

Judy nodded, unsurprised. “Sounds about right.”

Don squeezed her hand again before releasing it. “Too bad the best doctor in the galaxy was unavailable.”

“I’m right here!” Penny protested playfully.

“Okay, honey.” Her mother’s voice sliced through the argument, and Judy rolled her head back to face her. “Finish up that cup of water, and then you can go back to sleep.”

“But I’m not-” Her protests were cut off by a yawn, and everyone smiled knowingly at her. “Okay, fine, whatever.” She obligingly finished the water, and then settled back on her side, appreciating that the pain in her side had lessened, and was now only dully throbbing.

“We’ll be right here when you wake up.” John promised, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Judy smiled, and tried to respond, but sleep claimed her in seconds.

***

The next time she woke up, the lights were dimmed. The door to the hallway was open, but the hall itself was dark. 

Don was sitting beside her again, awake this time. He was holding her hand again, tracing absentminded patterns on the back of it while reading something on his tablet. He was still in the clothes he’d been wearing earlier.

“Whatcha reading?” She asked, still slightly groggy. 

Don jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, but managed to smile for her when their eyes met. “Feeling better?” Judy made a face, and he laughed quietly, more like huffing a breath than anything else. “Dumb question, I know.”

Judy replied with a half smile of her own. 

“As for what I’m reading,” He held up the screen for her, and she squinted at the words on it.

“Are those my med school textbooks?” She asked, her tone a little more surprised than she’d intended. Thankfully, Don didn’t take offense, and simply set the tablet down to the side.

“Yep,” He said, a little proud, a little sad. “Well, the parts I can understand, at least.” He hadn’t let go of her hand. “Judy, when you got hit, I didn’t know what to do. You were bleeding, and your mom was getting ready to do surgery, and I couldn’t do anything to help you.”

His face was slack, then, and she saw three days of exhaustion and worry painted on his face. She turned her hand, so their palms were pressing together. They didn’t usually do this. The hand-holding. But having that contact reminded her that she was alive, thanks to him.

“You saved me.” She whispered, staring at him fiercely. “I wouldn’t be here without you.” 

“But-”

“You’re not a doctor, and no one expects you to be.” She shook her head slightly. “But don’t get it wrong: you saved me.” She frowned. “I won’t have you believing otherwise.”

Don’s lips parted, and she raised her eyebrows, daring him to object. He sighed. “I have a feeling you’ll argue with me until I agree with you.”

“Because I’m right. Don, you always do the right thing. Even when it’s hard.” She squeezed his palm, smiling slightly at him. But the look on his face… he looked almost pained, even as he tried to match her expression.

“Not always.” He said softly. He wouldn’t meet her eyes, but squeezed her hand back, ever so slightly.

Judy studied him for a long moment, curious. She looked at his wrinkled clothes, and unwashed hair. The half-moon circles under his eyes. His hand in hers. Bitten fingernails.

“Maybe not before,” She agreed, her volume dropping to match his. “But now? I’ve never seen you be anything  _ but _ good, Don. So I won’t have any of this “I didn’t do enough” bullshit. You saved my life. Okay?”

She was pleased when her words drew a reluctant smirk out of him. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Satisfied, she finally asked what she’d been wondering since she woke up. “What have I missed since I’ve been out?” She settled back against her pillows, and let him tell her about how Will’s robot had a whole map of star systems programmed inside of him, and that everyone was trying to map their way through unfamiliar galaxies.

“We haven’t found Alpha Centauri yet,” He said, back to tracing patterns on the back of her hand. “But we’re out of the Danger system which is, obviously, good.”

Judy nodded in agreement. She wasn’t crazy about anything in that star system- even if one of the planets had enough burnable oil to power 100 Jupiters. They’d almost died on that planet, too. But now, their tanks were filled, and they were back in charge.

“Food is gonna be a concern, though, right?” Judy asked.

Don nodded, going from hopeful to grim in a moment. “Your mom said if we ration our supplies a little more, we can probably make it for another six months. But that’s it.” Judy cursed under her breath. Don pressed her hand. “Hey, you’re the Robinsons. If there’s anything I’ve noticed about you guys, it’s that you know how to get out of a sticky situation.”

Judy wanted to smile, but she was too worried to fake happiness. Too tired, and too in pain, and apparently, about to be too hungry.

Don seemed to know what she was thinking. Of course he did. He was her best friend.

A best friend who desperately needed a change of clothes. After a fair amount of back and forth, Judy got him to agree to take a shower and not return until he had slept at least six hours in his actual bunk. If Don felt embarrassed for being called out for keeping vigil at her side for almost three days, he didn’t show it. He just made a playful face at her and strutted out of the room, promising to send one of her parents back in his stead.

Judy rolled her eyes at his retreating back. She didn’t want to dwell on what it meant, those three days. What he was saying without saying anything at all. She was nineteen and recovering from a fairly painful wound to the side. He was twenty-eight, and, aside from Smith, the only person in the known galaxy she wasn’t related to. Dwelling on  _ it _ ? Not an option.

***

Her recovery was slow but steady. She was up and walking after a few days, but wasn’t allowed to exert herself, or carry anything heavier than a tablet, lest she split her stitches. So, everyone seemed to be determined to become her personal concierge. Will and his Robot offered to carry  _ her _ to where she needed to be, but Judy had shut that down quickly.

Everyone except Penny, who knew her sister well enough to understand that the only treatment Judy would allow would be to be treated like nothing had ever happened.

And so, it was Penny’s room that Judy so often retreated to. Penny was reading at the head of her bed, while Judy sat at the foot, frowning at her tablet. “I can’t believe Don still has such a stick up his butt about this homework thing. He deducted five points from me because I turned in my essay late.” At the sound of her sister’s laughter, she scowled even deeper. “It’s not funny. We’re fighting for our lives, and he’s still assigning us homework.”

“Now who’s the one with the stick up their butt?” 

“Shut up.” But even Judy had to smirk at that. Just a little. Plus, after a little more complaining, Penny had helped her finish her essay, so. Win-win.

A few days later, Judy and Don were bickering over his latest grade of her essay at the breakfast table, much to everyone else’s amusement. Even Smith had begun to join them, swearing up and down that she wouldn’t go near the control room, engine room, or anything that remotely looked like a button. No one believed her, but they felt badly enough to let her come out of her cell. Space was lonely as is.

“I don’t understand what you mean here. My argument was solid.”

“It was gramatically incorrect.”

“No it wasn’t! You said in class to use this specific phrasing.”

Smith snorted, and Judy looked up to glare at her across the table. Then she looked and saw everyone else stifling laughter or staring intently at their breakfasts with smiles on their faces. At least the Robot hadn’t made a sound.

“Okay, forget about this. I need coffee.”

“Ah,” Maureen looked up guiltily from her mug. “We’re out of coffee.”

“Like, the pot is empty, or…?”

Maureen shook her head. Judy gaped. “Traitor.” Her own mother had taken the last cup of coffee in the known galaxy for herself.

Her mom held the cup out. “Last sip?”

Judy pursed her lips, ready to say no just out of spite, until she caught the smell wafting up to her. “Fine.” She wrapped her hands reverently around the black mug, and inhaled deeply. It didn’t smell like the fresh coffee she remembered from home, but she hadn’t had that kind of coffee in years. She took a long sip, and sighed. It didn’t taste how coffee should, either, but she didn’t care. This was her last sip, and it was going to be good. 

“Well, that’s a bummer.” Smith’s voice cut through her moment, and Judy glared at the woman for the second time that morning.

Before Judy could interject, the Robot’s voice sounded, startling everyone except the person he addressed. “Will Robinson.”

Will was the only one never startled or perplexed by the Robot. They had some sort of bond that Judy hadn’t even tried to understand. It was beyond biology, and thus, beyond her. “What is it?”

The Robot’s screen flickered, and then suddenly, there was a projection of a star system on the table. Everyone leaned in for a closer look.

“That’s where we are now.” Maureen said slowly. “This is the galaxy he directed us to. But why…”

A single star grew brighter, and Judy reached out to touch it. The projection shifted and zoomed in on the star she’d touched. It hadn’t been a star, though. It was a planet. A brown and blue planet. Even from the projection, she could see clouds on its surface.

“He wants us to go there.” Will said, not needing to ask his friend for confirmation. “I think it’s safe.”

“You think?” Penny asked skeptically. Will simply shrugged.

“As safe as anything.”

Don and Judy exchanged a look. The last planet they’d landed on, she’d almost died. 

“We have to land.” It was Smith who spoke then, startlingly loud. Everyone turned to look at her, questioning. “We’re almost out of food, and probably fuel. If we don’t land soon, we’ll probably starve.”

It was a chilling statement, made even more terrifying by the fact that it was true. 

“Here we go again,” Judy muttered to Don. He nodded in a wordless agreement.

***

They landed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the next chapter, you have no idea.


	3. I don't wanna take the world for granted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Robinsons have finally found a planet that doesn't seem dead-set on killing them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive! After finals, many days of traveling, and prep for Christmas, I have a chapter at last! Season 2 is out in less than 24 hours (!!), so enjoy before this becomes non-canon!  
Thank you all for being so patient. Enjoy!

#  Chapter 3

The area Will told them to land on was flat, and dry, and brown. After a quick test deemed the air breathable, the group shed their helmets and cautiously made their way down the ramp. 

The sky above them was white, and the ground was a very unattractive dirt color. It was dusty, and cracked, like clay.

Will was talking to- well, talking at the Robot, leading the pack. Maureen and John were very close behind him. Smith wasn’t allowed to leave Maureen’s line of vision, which meant she was also up front, leaving Judy, Penny, and Don to bring up the rear.

Penny shouldered her bag. “Ready to almost die again?” She joked, but Judy knew she had a kitchen knife stashed in her boot, along with her regulation knife in her pocket.

Don grinned. “I’m just glad to be off that ship again, threat of death or no.” He and Penny were on either side of Judy, having apparently decided that they were her bodyguards.

“You’re ridiculous,” She informed both of them. Don was carrying her backpack as well, despite the fact that she swore up and down her side had healed up just fine.

“We’re cautious,” He corrected, dancing out of her way as she made to grab the backpack. “It’s different.”

“Mm.” Judy frowned at him, while Penny laughed.

They were all gathered outside the ship now, and Will was talking to the Robot. Well, Will was talking, and interpreting the Robot’s silences as answers.

“Will,” John asked, looking with barely guarded dislike at his son’s friend. “Can you ask it-  _ him _ \- why we’re here. This is the place, right?”

Will relayed the message to the Robot, and after a beat of silence, confirmed that this was where they were supposed to be.

“Not super promising.” Penny muttered under her breath, and Don had to agree.

Will said something else to the Robot, which caused the machine to raise his giant hand and point ahead of them, at what looked to be a rocky outcropping about a couple of miles away.

“He wants us to go there. He can sense…” Will’s face scrunched up, thinking. “Well, there’s not really a good translation. But there’s something there.”

“I’m not sure we should all go, then. What if it’s dangerous?” Maureen dug the a pair of binoculars out of her bag, but apparently found nothing of note. “We’re too far away to see anything.”

“What if we took the Chariot?” Judy suggested. The group rounded to look at her, and she shrugged. “It’s all charged up, and Don says he fixed it.” She turned her brown eyes on him. “You  _ did _ fix it, right?”

Don made a face. “Well. I fixed what I could. But we can’t all fit in there.”

Maureen took a step towards them. “He’s right. Chariots can sit five, six at maximum. There’s seven of us, plus the robot.”

“So, send a scout group out, and then when we figure out what  _ that _ is,” Judy pointed at the shape in the distance. “Come back and figure out where to go from there.”

“That’s… not a half bad idea.” John allowed, nodding slowly.

“So, who’s going?” Smith’s voice sounded bored, but Don recognized the gleam in her eyes. 

“Not you.” He said to the woman, who made a face at him.

In the end, it was decided that John, Judy, and Don would go. Will wanted to go, but where Will went, the Robot went, and that would attract too much unwanted attention.

So, they loaded up the Chariot. Judy triple-checked the first aid kit in the Chariot, and her sister made her swear on the next box of cookies they could find that she would radio if anything remotely out of the ordinary happened.

“Penny,” Judy placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders. Penny, almost eighteen, now had a good two inches on her older sister. It was weird for Penny, looking down at someone she had always looked up to. “We’ll be fine. We probably won’t even get out of the Chariot.”

Penny wasn’t assuaged. “Just be safe, okay?”

Judy smiled. “We will.” They hugged, a brief, tight squeeze, before Penny stepped back to embrace her father.

Judy rounded the vehicle, where she saw Don doing last minute checks on the solar panels. With his tired orange jacket, and oil stained pants, it seemed like he hadn’t aged at all since that day she’d asked him to do the right thing. 

“We good to go?”

Don frowned down at the wiring. “As good as we can be.” He put the toolbox back and leaned against the passenger side. “You ready?”

Judy moved to stand next to him and mirrored his position. “As I can be.” They grinned at each other for a moment, as the prospect of really, truly getting off of this ship came over them.

“Judy?”

Judy twisted to see her mom waiting for her, and holding out something small and black in her hand. When she reached out to take it, her mouth opened in shock. It was a dagger. The texture felt smooth and familiar in her hand. There was a weight to it she hadn’t expected.

“I printed it ages ago, just in case.” Her mother explained. Judy wrapped her fingers around the black handle. “We don’t know what’s out there. I don’t care what that Robot says.”

“I know. We’ll be safe.” Judy tucked the blade into her boot. The coldness of the plastic could be felt, even through the barrier her pants provided. “It’s only a couple of miles, and the Chariot’s fast. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Maureen pulled her into a hug. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” With a smile and wave thrown towards Will, Judy climbed into the passenger seat, enjoying the groan of complaint from Don. “You snooze, you lose, West.” She teased as she reached for the seat belt.

“Don,” Judy’s ears pricked up, and she twisted in her seat to look as Maureen passed another dagger to the mechanic. “I don’t care if it’s a quick trip. You need to keep them safe.” There was an intensity in her eyes that surprised Judy.

What surprised her more was when Don accepted the weapon and said, with equal gravity, “I will. You know I will.”

“ _ Both _ of them.”

“You know, I take offense to that.”

Maureen offered him a reluctant quirk of her lips, and her gaze darted to her daughter. Judy turned around again quickly, knowing she’d been caught. She didn’t think this was a private conversation, but there was clearly something they weren’t saying, and Judy was burning with curiosity about what it was.

Still, she kept her mouth shut when Don swung into the backseat, and immediately started trying to bargain with her to switch seats. John climbed in as well, after receiving a goodbye kiss from his wife, and immediately told Don to shut up. Judy grinned triumphantly. Don pouted.

With bated breath, they all waited as John hit the ignition, and let out a collective whoop when their poor Chariot shuddered to life. John reached back to slap his shoulder in congratulations, and Judy gave him a high five. They waved to the others as they pulled out of the garage and rumbled down the ramp, heading in the direction the Robot had pointed them.

John was tentative on the speed at first, hardly breaking 40 mph. Still, they flew easily across the barren ground, and Judy leaned forward in her seat. 

It quickly became apparent that the large black rock the Robot had pointed out was rising out of a valley. As they grew closer, and it grew bigger, Judy realized that it wasn’t a rock, but a building, made of stone. Don had undone his seatbelt and was now kneeling between the two front seats as he craned his head to see out the windshield.

“Holy hell.” John pulled to a stop at the lip of the valley, where they had a clear view down at the massive clearing. Thirty feet below them were hundreds of buildings clustered together, stretching out as far as the eye could see. The tops of the buildings hardy came to the top of the valley- it was no wonder they hadn’t seen it before. The buildings were all some mixture of grey and beige. Some blended right into the sandy landscape while others stood tall and proud. The rock building was in the center of the valley, and clusters of people- well, humanoid figures- streamed in and out of it. Judy wondered what it could possibly be.

But what was even more exciting was the life they saw below. People, actual humanoid people, were walking along the streets. A cacophany of voices reached their ears, and while none of the words were familiar, Judy felt a smile stretch across her face. “It’s a town.”

Next to her, Don let out a breathy laugh. “It’s a fucking town!”

She could hardly believe it. It had been so long- almost two years- since they’d had anyone but each other to talk to. Looking down at the valley, seeing that many people, that much  _ life _ ? It was exciting and overwhelming all at once.

“We should get the others,” Don exclaimed, unable to take his eyes off the town. “They need to see this.”

John made a hesitant sound. Judy tore her eyes away from the valley to look at him. “Dad?”

“Yeah,” Her dad breathed. “Yeah, okay.”

Five minutes later, four Robinsons, Don, and Smith were all piled into the Chariot, while Will clung to the back of the Robot, and they took off, towards the valley. One edge was practically a cliff face, but they circled the edge until they found a more gentle decline. There was a well-worn path, one that was clearly used often. It was maybe wide enough for two people to walk abreast, and hugged the edge of the valley, turning along the side of the valley. The path and the valley wall were the same beige as the rest of the planet seemed to be.

“Well,” Maureen peered down into the valley, uncharacteristic nervousness on her face. There was no way the townspeople hadn’t noticed them by now, but there seemed to be no reaction from the people below. There was a beep from the Chariot as John locked it. “Last chance to back out.” 

“Nope.” Penny, brusque as ever, brushed past their mother and started down the path. “Let’s go.”

“Penny!” Her mom called after her, and then all the residents of the Jupiter 2 were stumbling down the trail in her wake, making a far less graceful entrance than they had planned.

By the time the group reached the bottom of the trail, they were out of breath, and covered in the same brown dust that coated everything on that planet.

Judy turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. The buildings that had seemed so short from above now towered over them. The ground and buildings may have been the same dull brown, but the people who swarmed around and out from them were decked out in vibrant colors- shimmering greens, purples, and reds were draped over shoulders, and some people donned turbans- likely to protect themselves from the sweltering sun. Judy found herself envying them, as sweat began to prickle along her brow. She pitied Penny, who had once gotten a sunburn on a cloudy day.

The people in the valley didn’t seem to care much about their arrival- though a few slowed down to stare at their Robot as they passed. They weren’t just people, though, Judy realized. Humanoid figures mixed with others- beings with green skin, or blue skin, and horns, or tentacles instead of hair. It should have felt surreal- she was standing in a town straight out of Star Wars- but instead, she was just overwhelmed by the presence of life. Life forms who weren’t shooting at them.

Don tugged once on Judy’s braid, and she turned to glare at him. He jerked his head towards John, and she realized her father had been speaking.

“Will, does the Robot have any more suggestions? Like where we should go?” John still had a habit of glaring at the Robot distrustfully, and never addressed it directly. Likewise, the Robot rarely seemed to react unless Will was the one speaking to it.

Will turned and asked the Robot. It stared at him for a long moment. “Not helpful.” Will said dryly after a moment.

“What?” Penny asked.

“He’s figuring out sarcasm. It’s not funny.” Will held up a hand, and crossed his arms, staring patiently up at the Robot which was still twice his height. Penny turned to stare at Judy with wide, questioning eyes, who just shrugged in response. That Robot was a mystery Judy half-hoped she would never have to solve. 

Finally, the creature lifted a large metal hand at the giant structure in the center.

“I could have guessed that.” Smith muttered. Again, everyone ignored her.

“Come on,” Maureen wrapped an arm around her youngest daughter, and the group set off. Will and the Robot led the way, followed by Maureen and Penny, then Smith, who was being glared at by John, and then Judy and Don bringing up the back. 

Judy cast distrustful looks around them, but the locals didn’t seem to care about their presence- which just made her even more paranoid. They hadn’t once set foot on a planet that wasn’t out to kill them in one way or another. But there was  _ life _ here. Thriving, bustling, seemingly permanent life.

As they got closer, her dad squinted up at the monument before them. “What do you think it is?” He asked in awe, watching as groups of people entered and exited. It definitely seemed to be the central hub of activity.

“It could be anything,” Maureen replied. “A religious monument seems to be the most obvious answer, but it could be a source of power, or nutrition?” She watched the people leaving. “Most people seem to be leaving with something, but I can’t tell what it is.”

“You new here?” A voice piped up behind them. Judy nearly jumped out of her skin, hand flying to her boot, and Don yelped. They all swiveled as one to face the new speaker.

“Woah, woah, don’t go pullin’ knives on me, now!” The woman had an easy accent that Judy immediately identified as American, from the deep south. She had short, sandy hair, and a rugged, pockmarked face. Still, she was smiling slightly, as if the Robinsons had amused her.

John was the one to get his bearings back first. “Yes. You- you speak English?”

The woman stuck her thumbs in her belt loops. “Sure do. Also speak some German, High Valeriyan, Klingon, and a few others that you wouldn’t be too familiar with. Ketta’s the name” She stuck a red, calloused hand out to shake.

Judy blinked at her. Don, never one to hesitate, shook it with an easy grin. “Nice to meet ya, Don West.”

“Forgive me for being blunt,” and now Maureen was shouldering her way towards the woman. “But you sound like you’re… like us. We’re from Earth.”

Ketta gave Maureen an amused look. “Well, of course you are. And of course I am. You’re not the first people to strike out on your own. Nice robot, by the way.” She nodded at the Robot. All of the Robinsons gaped at her. This was the first person they’d ever met to react positively to the Robot.

“To… what?” Maureen’s delicate brows pulled together, looking truly perplexed.

The woman’s smile dimmed slightly. “Oh, you really don’t know what you’re doing here, do you?” Judy’s heart was pounding, while her brain twisted in confusion. Were they supposed to know something about this place?

“No, but we would really like to.”

Ketta nodded. “Well, come on in.” She started walking towards the dark building.

“What’s in there?” Maureen asked, falling into step with the woman. “Is it a source of power? Or a religious monument of some sort?”

Ketta snorted. “No. It’s our mall.”

“Like a space mall?” Will asked, sounding way too excited.

“It  _ is _ a space mall, kid. I run a parts shop.” And with that, she disappeared through the glass doors. With no option, they all filed in behind her.

If the monument had looked busy from the outside, that was nothing compared to the inside. First, the air conditioning hit her, and Judy sucked in a deep breath, relishing in the clear air. It was  _ massive _ , going at least five stories up, with stores that looked like they had been carved into the stone. There were gleaming chrome signs flashing pictures of aliens in fanciful clothes, and fountains shooting up a gleaming purple liquid, and so, so many lifeforms. 

Two blue skinned people swung a little purple child between them, who giggled every time their feet left the grey tile. A clump that looked to be a mix of humans and non-humans gathered outside of what looked to be a restaurant, pouring over a menu.

After staring at endless beige for so long, it almost hurt her eyes to be assaulted with so much color and light. Penny’s eyes were wide, and her head swiveled back and forth endlessly, trying to take in as much as she possibly could. Unfamiliar music played from somewhere above. Maureen and Will were still chattering with Ketta, mostly just asking her about the shops they passed. John kept a tight grip on Smith’s arm, lest she try to escape. It would be easy here, with large groups of people drifting every which way.

Judy drifted closer to Don, who was still clearly on his guard. She couldn’t blame him- it had been a long time since their lives  _ weren’t _ in danger, and there was no reason today should be any different, even if there was a kind woman leading them through a space mall. Judy reached out and laced their hands together, trying to ground him, as he had done for her so many times before. He looked down at her, then their hands, then her face again. She offered him a tiny smile of encouragement, and felt marginally better when he managed to match it. 

They followed Ketta to her store, where she lifted the rusty grate in front of it. On the glass windows, her sign was in large unfamiliar letters, and then below it, in much smaller font, English. “Ketta’s Parts: Earthen, SS 134, and others. Walk-ins welcome.”

“Come on in. ‘Fraid there’s not a lot of places to sit.” She said apologetically. The front of the store had a couple of generic chairs for waiting. Ketta breezed past them, and through the swinging half-gate towards the back of the store. The tables were scattered with parts, and every wall was lined with shelves and cabinets and tools.

“That’s fine.” Maureen said automatically. Smith scoffed and promply sat down on the floor, leaning her back on the wall. For the first time, Ketta seemed to study the woman, probably observing how the rest of the crew either ignored the woman, or glared daggers at her, but wisely chose not to comment on it. “What did you mean,” Maureen pulled Ketta’s attention back to her. “When you said we don’t know what we’re doing here? Were we supposed to?”

Ketta puttered around her table, talking as she collected various parts. Judy and Penny sat next to each other on the counter, while Don leaned on the wall, in front of the swinging gate. “I saw your Chariot up above, figured you all were in a Jupiter. We could hear something landing all the way over here.”

“Yeah,” Will piped up, from his spot in the corner. He told the Robot to stay put before stepping forward. “He,” he gestured toward his friend. “Told us to come here.”

“We’re lost.” Maureen admitted. “We were a part of the 24th colonist group, but we got separated from the Resolute a couple of years ago.”

Ketta’s eyebrows shot up into her sandy hair. “You’ve been lost for years? You mean, you didn’t leave on purpose?”

“People leave on purpose?” Smith asked, a rare look of interest crossing her normally blank face.

Ketta shrugged. “Sure. I did.” She laughed at the shocked expressions of the Robinson crew. “What, surely you didn’t think you were the only people to strike out on your own.”

“Our strike wasn’t exactly intentional.” John muttered, and then added, louder. “I assume you’re one of those who went out on your own?”

“What gave me away?” She splayed her hands out, palms up. “I was in one of the very first colonist groups. The closer we got to Alpha Centauri, the less excited I got. I was unmarried- still am, actually- with no family, so I was traveling with a group of friends. I can’t really explain the feeling, but I just felt the need to get away. We all agreed that if the opportunity to get away- to  _ really _ get away- presented itself, we’d take it. One day, we encountered a meteor shower, and that was it.” She smiled at the memory. “It took a few galaxies to get where we are today, but this is it for us. We’ve been here about, oh, three years now?”

“Wow.” Penny breathed. Judy had to agree. She couldn’t imagine willingly leaving civilization behind for a life of uncertainty in the endless depths of space- every day since they had been sucked into that black hole had been terrifying.

Maureen tilted her head. “Galaxies?”

“Well, surely your robot friend has shown you where Alpha Centauri is.”

“Yes, but- Will, have him pull it up.”

A few moments later, the now familiar hologram of multiple star systems was projected over Ketta’s table of spare parts. Finally, they’d presented the woman with something that surprised her. She stepped as close as she could. “Hell’s bells.” 

Maureen was next to her. “This is us, which you probably already guessed.” Maureen touched a small dot of light. The map swirled, changed, and zoomed in on their galaxy. Ketta’s eyebrows were in her hair again. 

“Then,” Maureen made the map pull back. “Alpha Centauri is here,” she rounded the table to point at a different system.

Ketta let out a low whistle. “Shit. I haven’t ever seen it laid out like this. We had- well, we had help from other people. Other planets.” She shook her head. “How did  _ you _ get so off course? If you didn’t want to go exploring, that is.”

Penny let out a choked sort of laugh. “Funny story about that.”

They told her their story, from the minute they boarded the Resolute to when they landed there. It took everyone’s help- someone always interjected with a part someone else had forgotten. They were in a rush to get the words out, to tell their story to someone new. Judy realized with a jolt that she was the first new person they’d spoken to in almost three years. 

Ketta was leaning against the parts table, shaking her head in disbelief. “So, you got sucked through a wormhole, and ended up on the other side of the universe. And your ship was still intact?”

“Yup.” Penny responded, popping the p. “And we’ve been trying to get back to the Resolute- and Alpha Centauri ever since.”

“That’s insane.”

“It’s true.” Judy promised. She hadn’t spoken much since they got to the shop- still acclimating- but she felt the need to defend what they had been through.

“Oh I believe you. It’s just- I never...” Ketta was saved from having to come up with a comprehensive response when the bell on the door jingled, and someone walked in, clutching a very large, very dented android in their arms. Ketta excuses herself to greet the customer, and Judy and penny slipped off the counter and stood back. Judy sensed that rewiring whatever was inside that android would be easier than comprehending the Robinsons’ journeys. 

Don finally spoke to Ketta. He’d been unusually quiet through this whole interaction, save for his contribution to their story, having introduced himself as a ‘dashingly handsome mechanic’. “Can you help us get to AC, though?”

Ketta looked at him. “Obviously. “You’ll need fuel. Lots of it.” Ketta set aside the android and squinted at the map. “I can get a few of my better-traveled friends to help plot you a course, but it’ll take a while. This isn’t exactly a cross country road trip.” A playful smile danced on her lips, and Judy decided she liked this woman a lot. 

“That’s fine.” John agreed. “I’m happy to take a break for a few weeks. We need to re-stock, anyway.”

Maureen hummed in agreement. They needed to restock on everything- not just food, but medical supplies and repair parts. Filters- god, they’d needed new filters for six months. 

“Well, if that’s the case, why don’t you fly your ship over to mine? I can tune your radio to the frequency me and my friends use.”

John tilted his head at her in surprise. “You still have your Jupiter?”

Ketta laughed. “Sure do. It was designed to be lived in, and who am I to deny myself a home? It’s not too far away, about two kilometers down the valley.”

Penny, eternally skeptical, raised an eyebrow. “This is all a bit too easy. I mean, we’re random people you just ran into outside of the mall. We could be crazy space pirates or something.”

Ketta tilted her head. “Are you space pirates?”

“No.”

“Great! Neither am I. So, as soon as my coworker gets here, we can move your ship.”

Maureen beamed, and John came up to hug his wife from behind. “We really appreciate this, Ketta.”

Ketta shook her head, and picked up the android again. “It’s my pleasure. Really, it’s been a while since I’ve met anybody else from Earth.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a question about that, actually.” Judy said, hopping down from the counter. “I can’t help but notice that a lot of the, um, the people, here… they look a lot like us?”

The next half an hour devolved into Ketta explaining that humans, and their appearances weren’t specific to only Earth. Humanoid figures, and their numerous variations, had been spread out across the universe for billions of years.

Judy looked delighted at learning about the biological variations of lifeforms. Don and Penny were happy to make fun of her.

Eventually, the bell jingled again, and Ketta’s coworker- an extremely tall male with indigo blue skin, and two antennae twisted into buns on top of his head- entered, and the Robinson crew proceeded with their messy introductions again. 

Ketta introduced Grenae, and gave him an abbreviated version of the current situation, to which he grinned widely- revealing surprisingly human-like teeth. “Of course the Earthlings would find you.” His accent was thick, but unlike any Judy had heard before. “I will be fine here.”

They all made to leave, but John froze, and snapped his fingers. “We all won’t fit in the Chariot. Some of us need to stay here.”

“I can stay behind.” Smith immediately volunteered.

“No.” All of the Robinsons replied in unison. Ketta wisely remained silent.

Smith rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. You try to kill people three times and suddenly no one trusts you.”

“ _ Four _ times.” Don huffed. “Don’t forget the time you left me and John clinging to a piece of scrap metal.”

“That was an accident.”

“Weren’t you trying to kill Maureen?”

“Fine, four times.”

“You’re coming with us.” Maureen said, with a voice that brokered no argument.

“We can stay behind.” Judy offered, gesturing to herself, Penny, and Don. “I kinda want to check out this mall.”

Penny nodded in agreement. “It’s a mall. In space.”

Maureen looked like she wanted to argue, but John leaned over and whispered something in her ear, and she nodded. “Fine. Just don’t leave the building. Don-” She looked at the former smuggler, stopped, and shook her head. “Judy, you’re the adult in charge.” Don squacked in indignation. Judy elbowed him in the stomach and hid her smile. “Don’t do anything stupid. Keep your com on. Stay safe”

Subconsciously, Judy let her hand drift to her side, to her mostly-healed stitches. Don’s fingers brushed against hers, feather light, and she looked down at his serious eyes. She thought of the dagger in her boot. Of Maureen telling Don to  _ keep them safe _ .  _ Both of them _ . “Okay.”

“I could not be more offended. I’m almost thirty.” Don complained as soon as they were out of earshot.

“And yet you never really passed the mental age of fifteen.” Penny replied breezily. Grenae choked on a laugh from behind them. Penny, hearing this, spun around to look at the taller man. He seemed to shrink under her intense gaze. “So, Grenae.”

“Yes?”

“This would just so happen to be our first ever space mall experience. Since you work here, I assume you would be able to recommend some stops for a couple of Earthlings?”

“Particularly hungry Earthlings.” Don piped up from behind her.

Grenae relaxed into a smile again. It seemed like that was his natural state. “Oh, yeah, for sure.” He ambled to the front of the store, and pointed out of the window. “The mall map is over there. First floor is mostly food, parts stores like ours, and raw materials. Second floor is precious metals- jewelry, I think Ketta calls it? Third is food, fourth is clothes, and fifth is the solarium. They are making an immersive movie theater right now, but it is not going well. They tested an Earth movie and, well…” He made a face. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not the best movie to have as their first practice round.”

Penny raised her eyebrows. “I thought the title would be fairly self-explanatory.”

“Not everyone on this planet speaks English.” He said with a shrug.

“But you do.” Judy said, walking up to him. God, he must have been seven feet tall. “Fairly fluently, too.”

The pleased smile returned. “I picked it up. We are a community that serves many travelers. Working with Ketta has helped. Most people here speak at least three languages. I speak Universal, English, and Galax. Universal is the most commonly spoken language across the trader’s routes, and Galax is the most common language in our galaxy.”

“What is your galaxy called?”

His tone took on an amused edge. “Galax. Though in Galax, it is pronounced, hey-lay.” I could teach you- teach you all.” He nodded towards Don and Penny. “Galax or Universal.”

Judy’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that would be amazing.”

“We need a new language. I’ve mastered Spanish.” Penny nudged Don, who rolled his eyes. 

“Being the top of a class of six doesn’t really show mastery.” He argued, looking to Judy for help. Don looked stressed, though Judy couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe the stress of being on a new planet- and speaking to new people for the first time in years- was getting to him. She couldn’t exactly blame him. “Besides, Grenae probably has a lot of work to do.”

Grenae looked at the open android body on the table, and the otherwise empty shop. “Not really.”

“See?”

“How about this?” Judy stepped in, placing a calming hand on Don’s arm. “We walk around a little bit, then come back when everyone else does, and accept Grenae’s very generous offer?”

“Works for me!” Penny beamed, and waved goodbye to Grenae, before bounding out the door. 

“I meant together- Penny, slow down!” Judy hurriedly thanked their host before being pulled out the door by Don, whose fingers were laced tightly in hers- not an unfamiliar feeling at this point.

Penny was standing in front of the map, hands on her hips. “Well, I don’t understand a lick of this.” She said, gesturing at the lines of what Judy assumed were words in Universal. “But luckily, the sign for stairs is pretty easy, and those would be across the store.” She turned to Don and Judy eyes sparkling. “You ready?”

Judy looked at Don, and allowed a bubble of hope to rise in her chest for the first time. The hope that they actually might not die alone, stranded in space. The fact that they were here, in a  _ mall _ , seemed surreal. 

She squeezed his hand, and he grinned at her. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking at expanding my number of chapters- I intended to have this span ten years over ten chapters, but I think this might be a little longer than I had anticipated.


End file.
